LAWFUEL – Legal Newswire – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, announced that ALBERT D. CHANG,
JR. pleaded guilty today to preparing 30 false income tax returns
for clients of a tax preparation business he ran out of his
residence in the Bronx, New York. According to the felony
Information to which CHANG pleaded and statements made during
CHANG’s guilty plea before United States Magistrate Judge ANDREW
PECK:
From 2002 through 2004, CHANG, on multiple occasions,
knowingly included false items on tax returns he prepared for
clients of his tax preparation business. The false items on the
returns led to increased refunds for his clients, and included:
1) fraudulent deductions for purported unreimbursed employmentrelated
expenses; 2) inflated business losses or losses incurred
by fictitious businesses; and 3) inflated or fictitious income
tax withholding. CHANG included false or inflated business
losses and false deductions on these thirty tax returns totaling
approximately $760,000.
CHANG pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and
assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. He faces up
to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the
pecuniary gain or loss resulting from the crime. Sentencing is
set for April 18, 2008.
Mr. GARCIA praised the investigative work of the
Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and
thanked them for their assistance in this case.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Major
Crimes Unit. Special Assistant United States Attorney ANDREW
KAMEROS is in charge of the prosecution.
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